When Australian Defence Force media flacks met spokesmen from a number of Afghan government agencies in the southern wilds of Afghanistan late in January, critical ADF business was on the agenda – how to block independent reporting from the province by Fairfax Media.

Vigilant: Australian soldiers patrol and search the Puza bridge in Oruzgan province for improvised explosive devices after an insurgent was arrested there the previous night with explosives. Photo: Kate Geraghty

Farid Ayil, a spokesman for the provincial chief of police, said he was pressured during the meeting to recommend to his boss Matiullah Khan that he should refuse to host a Fairfax news team of photographer Kate Geraghty and me – an outcome that would have made our reporting assignment virtually impossible.

Advertisement

Despite a flat denial, issued by an ADF spokesman last week, that there had been any attempt to derail the Fairfax assignment, Mr Ayil said in an interview: “The [ADF] guy went around the table getting everyone to say they had refused, and then he demanded to know why we were taking you.”

The unnamed ADF representative had then presented a litany of reasons to back his argument – the Fairfax team was in Oruzgan to ‘‘write wrong stories’’; it had travelled to Tarin Kowt ‘‘without permission’’; and it had entered Afghanistan ‘‘without a letter from the Australian government’’.

Australian soldiers in Afghanistan

Dai Roshan Area, Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan. Australian soldiers patrol and search the river bed near the Puza Bridge for IED's. Photo: Kate Geraghty

The ADF media doctrine is based on maintaining tight military control on the movement of journalists and their access to military and civilian interview subjects. And as Geraghty and I worked our Kabul and Tarin Kowt contacts to find an Afghan agency that might host us in the provincial centre, it became apparent that unseen hands were working to thwart us.

A series of invitations that had been issued warmly were curtly withdrawn – in most cases, within hours. Mr Ayil said that after canvassing a decision by the provincial governor to withdraw his initial approval for us to lodge in his guest house, and an offer by an Afghan National Army general to arrange an ANA billet which also had fallen through, he was put under pressure.

What followed, as he recalled, was a reversal of what might have been expected – instead of the more worldly Australians encouraging their skittish Afghan counterparts to be open and cooperative with the news media, it was the reverse.

"I told them you were free journalists – that you didn't need to ask for permission to be here, and that we didn't need to ask for permission to host you," Ayil said a few days after the meeting in Tarin Kowt.

"I couldn't figure out why it was such a problem for them. I asked why they were making such a big deal out of it. I told the guy not to worry, because your security was our responsibility – we're good at security and you'd write the real story of Oruzgan."

On arriving at Tarin Kowt on a commercial flight in mid-January, Geraghty and I were approached on the tarmac by several Australian military officers. Geraghty was asked to identify herself and then told: "you have no permission to be here."

We were not formally detained. But it was made clear that we would not be allowed to leave the makeshift terminal, while the Australians checked whether or not the ANA would host us. While they made their inquiries, our resourceful Afghan translator, who had accompanied us from Kabul, called his contacts and was able to confirm that we were to be guests of the police chief.

Even before the Australians had completed their inquiries with their Afghan counterparts, Matiullah Khan had dispatched a police pick-up to move us to an elaborate and very safe guesthouse at his sprawling compound, which is adjacent to the foreign forces base on the outskirts of Tarin Kowt.

Ayil said that in the subsequent days there had been so many phone calls, by Afghan translators on behalf of the ADF, inquiring about our whereabouts, that his colleagues took to refusing to divulge information on our movements.

Later, a bemused Matiullah Khan chuckled, seeming to enjoy what had the appearance of a power play with the Australians – if only for a bit of political sport, it made good sense for him to allow us to remain on the ground, when the Australians were so determined to block us.

More often the butt of criticism for displaying a low regard for the niceties of democracy and human rights, the police chief seemed genuinely puzzled that such an effort was being made to block a news team.

"You're journalists - right?" he said on our first meeting. "As far as I'm concerned, you have a right to come here to talk to the Afghan people – why are they trying so hard to stop you?"

The ADF charge that we were in Afghanistan 'without a letter from the Australian government' suggested an Australian operation that went beyond the ADF to include the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

All foreign journalists arriving in Kabul are expected to register for accreditation with the Afghan Foreign Ministry – which has hit upon requesting a pro-forma letter from a journalist's embassy stating that Reporter or Photographer X indeed works for Publication Y in their home country. The Australian embassy in Kabul has issued such a letter for me in the past.

However, in a phone message which I was told came from the acting ambassador in Kabul, but was relayed through the emergency consular hotline staff in Canberra, I was told that because we had entered the country 'under [our] own steam' and not by invitation of the ADF or DFAT and because we were not accompanying a minister or officials of the Australian government, we would not be issued a letter.

Given that its Australian component is perhaps just one per cent of the Afghanistan story, the embassy was effectively denying our right as journalists to cover any of the story – because most arms of the Afghan security establishment require that visiting reporters have the Foreign Ministry accreditation.

To move without restriction, we had decided not to subject ourselves to ADF control by formally requesting an ADF embed at Tarin Kowt – but we did request an interview with the Australian commanding officer. Despite our presence on the ground for 10 days in accommodation about 100m from the gate to his base, his media staff informed us that he was not available.

In response to written questions issued on March 4, the ADF said that “your request for an interview ... was approved; however, we understand that you had already departed Tarin Kowt”.The statement finished cheerfully – “We look forward to working with you for future visits and hope that you are able to provide us with sufficient notice to allow appropriate planning to occur.”